Emulação: Góngora e Gregório

Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627)

Mientras por competir con tu cabello,
oro bruñido al sol relumbra en vano;
mientras con menosprecio en medio el llano
mira tu blanca frente el lilio bello;

mientras a cada labio, por cogello.
siguen más ojos que al clavel temprano;
y mientras triunfa con desdén lozano
del luciente cristal tu gentil cuello:

goza cuello, cabello, labio y frente,
antes que lo que fue en tu edad dorada
oro, lilio, clavel, cristal luciente,

no sólo en plata o vïola troncada
se vuelva, mas tú y ello juntamente
en tierra, en humo, en polvo, en sombra, en nada.

Gregório de Matos (1636-1695)

Discreta e formosíssima Maria,
Enquanto estamos vendo a qualquer hora
Em tuas faces a rosada Aurora,
Em teus olhos, e boca o Sol, e o dia:

Enquanto com gentil descortesia
O ar, que fresco Adônis te namora,
Te espalha a rica trança voadora
Quando vem passear-te pela fria:

Goza, goza da flor da mocidade,
Que o tempo trota a toda ligeireza,
E imprime em toda a flor sua pisada.

Oh não aguardes, que a madura idade
Te converta essa flor, essa beleza
Em terra, em cinza, em pó, em sombra, em nada.

To be or not to be -

Hey guys,

the "To be or not to be" soliloquy in the Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet (1996) can be found in YouTube at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7740lGif65Y

Don't forget to take your written activities on Hamlet to class next Friday.
Enjoy! ;)

HAMLET

Dear students,

please read as much as you can of Shakespeare's Hamlet for next class (April 29th). Be sure to take notes as you read, and bring them in for class discussion. The link for the text online:

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html

Have a great Easter, I hope the Bunny will bring you all the chocolate you've asked for! ;)

Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", Part 2

Dear students,

please listen to the audio of "The Prologue" (the one we couldn't listen to in class...) in the following site:

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/canterbury.htm

I hope you are having fun with "The Miller's Tale"! Don't forget to bring in your written assignment next class.

See you Friday. ;)

Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", part 1

Dear students,

tomorrow we begin our readings of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c. 1483).

Please take note of these useful sites, which may help you with class/home activities:

eChaucer site at: http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/index.html

The Canterbury Tales at: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/

Enjoy your readings! ;)

Class 3 - Reading and Activities

Dear students:

Read the following dictionary entries from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries; how do they expose the historicity of concepts such as "literature" and "poetry"? After that, please do the following activities, in groups or in pairs, to be handed in next Friday (April 1).

Edmund Coote, The English School-master (1596)

Literature: learning.

Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues (1611)

Literature: f. Literature, learning.

John Bullokar, An English Expositor (1616)

Literature. Learning: knowledge in bookes.

Henry Cockeram, English Dictionary (1623)

Literature. Learning.

Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words (1658)

Literature: (lat.) knowledge in letters, learning.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

Literature: skill in Letters, or learning.

* * *

John Bullokar, An English Expositor (1616)

Poesie: The writing of a Poet; a Poets worke.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

A Poet: one that writes or makes verses.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

A Tragick Poet: one well skill'd in the writing of tragedies.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

A Bard: or old British Poet.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

A Poetess: or female poet.

John Kersey the younger, English Dictionary (1702)

A Rimer: versifier, or riming poet.

Source: http://leme.library.utoronto.ca/

Activities:

1) In groups or in pairs, discuss the historicity of key concepts such as “literature”, “poetry”, “author”. Use Eliot’s, Koselleck’s and Eagleton's essays as a point of reflection, as well as the previous discussion we had last class.

2) Discuss and then give examples of the “coexistence”, such as Koselleck terms it, of "different eras" in the same historical “present”.

3) Considering that Shakespeare (as any other school-trained author of his time) had learned ancient Rhetoric and Poetics; had read Greek and Latin authors, such as Homer, Plutarch and Virgil; knew the Medieval epic and lyric poems not only of England, but also of France, answer the following questions:

a) How do you relate the case of Shakespeare with Eliot’s idea of “the conception of poetry as a living whole of all the poetry that has ever been written”?

b) How do you explain Eliot’s assertion that emotion “has its life in the poem and not in the history of the poet”?

Any doubt, send me an email. Next class, we will discuss further Eagleton's introduction to Literary Theory. Enjoy your readings and activities. ;)

Literary Theory: an Introduction

Terry Eagleton, British literary critic and scholar (1943-)

Dear students,

for next class, I'd like you to read the text I gave you by Terry Eagleton, his introduction to A Literary Theory.

Please take notes on your reading and bring them in for class discussion.

Enjoy your readings! ;)